Allison Guess, Ph.D.

Allison Guess, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College. Her research examines Black people’s relationships to land in the Americas, focusing particularly on La Española (known in English as Hispaniola), the island today shared by the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti. Her article “16th Century Hispaniola: A ‘Hidden Geography’ and ‘Forgotten Place’ of ‘Solidão’ in North American (Afro) Latin Americanist Inquiry” was published in Women’s Studies Quarterly in 2021. Prof. Guess’ doctoral dissertation, Plotting on the Plot in Hispaniola: A 16th Century Discontinuous Black Land Story and the Insistent Unsettling Crisis of the New World, examined the first documented Black-led rebellion in the Americas, which took place in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo in 1521. This project relied on extensive archival research and paleographic training at CUNY DSI’s Dominican Archives, made possible by the CUNY Dominican Studies Archives and Library Research Awards. Prof. Guess’ current project, tentatively titled Catching the Case of Freedom: Places, Practices and Possibilities of Black Revolt in 16th-17th Century Hispaniola is a continuation of her research on freedom and resistance carried out by Black People in La Española and will examine a series of such cases.